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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29515599">Hostage Negotiations</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/youcouldmakealife/pseuds/youcouldmakealife'>youcouldmakealife</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Impaired Judgment (and other excuses) [136]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>M/M, YCMAL 'verse</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 03:15:54</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,430</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29515599</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/youcouldmakealife/pseuds/youcouldmakealife</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“Am I boring?” Jared says.</p><p>“You are the most exciting person in the world,” Bryce tells him, all earnestness, and takes his hand at the next red light.</p><p>Jared squeezes, then lets go. “Both hands on the wheel, babe,” he says.</p><p>“You can sometimes be a little boring,” Bryce says.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>OMC/OMC</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Impaired Judgment (and other excuses) [136]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/849798</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>55</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>328</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Hostage Negotiations</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Bryce does media. He doesn’t want to, and Jared wishes he didn’t have to, but he does. He comes home looking wrung out, emptied by it, and Jared aches for him.</p><p>“You’re going to ask for the trade, right?” Jared asks. He watched some of Bryce’s clips from media day, then wished he hadn’t. He looked so tired. And the questions were so accusatory, like it hadn’t been everyone failing, like it’d been just him.</p><p>“Yup,” Bryce says. “I’ve got a meeting with them next week, and we all know what it’s about.”</p><p>He’s got a strong case, the fans howling and the GM trying to keep his job; they’re not going to hold onto him. They won’t let him go to Vancouver, Jared knows that. Fans howling or not: he’s a star player and you do not hand a star player to your divisional rival. You just don’t. Unless you’re like, the Leafs back in the day, but Lapointe had a bad season before that, and Jared suspects that deal was made on the winged feet of homophobia. The former GM of the Leafs and Deslauriers are probably poker buddies or something.</p><p>Bryce puts his head in Jared’s lap and Jared toys with his hair. “Any idea where you’re going to end up?”</p><p>“I mean, I hope I’m staying in the West,” Bryce says. “Calgary’s probably going to start reaching out, seeing who’s interested, ship me off before the NTC kicks in. Because I doubt anywhere I’d put up as an exception is somewhere they’ll be willing to trade me.”</p><p>“Who’re you picking, anyway?” Jared asks. He has a fifteen team trade list right now, but his new NTC is kicking in July 1st, and it’s a massively restrictive three team trade list that gives him all the leverage. Until then it’s in Calgary’s hands, unfortunately, but Jared doesn’t think this is something they’re going to want to jump the gun on — there are no shortage of teams that would want Bryce, but if they look desperate the asking rate’s going to plummet. They’re going to want to play it cool first, act like they could take or leave a trade.</p><p>Bryce shrugs. “West for sure, but I don’t want to think about it if I’m not even going to be a Flame at that point. For all I know I’ll be like, a Bruin or something.”</p><p>Jared snorts. “That’d be cruelly ironic.”</p><p>“Yeah,” Bryce says, turns his head, kisses Jared’s stomach through his shirt. “I hate this,” he says.</p><p>“I know,” Jared says, and keeps stroking his hair.</p><p>*</p><p>The Senators beat the Scouts in a massive upset. Jared feels quietly happy about it, though none of the elation he felt for Raf, since he doesn’t know any Sen personally. He doesn’t watch it, but there are gifs after, Brandon Simcoe near tears, and there is a vicious part of Jared that remembers every hit he threw Bryce’s way, every time he lured Bryce into taking a bad call, and that part is extremely satisfied that night.</p><p>Trade talks are going slowly, apparently, but they haven’t stalled, which Jared guesses is good. Talks with Greg and the Canucks are preliminary but everyone’s on the same page about re-signing Jared, which is definitely good.</p><p>Jared and Bryce watch the draft, not so much for the draftees but in case there’s a sudden trade to be announced, the Flames sending Bryce off for a high pick. He isn’t. The first round Canucks prospect looks about five years old. Jared does not think he looked that young when he was drafted. </p><p>It’s brutal, the stretch between the draft and free-agency. They’re figuring out training — well, not so much figuring out, it’s Bryce with the guy he always has, Jared with Arvan again, because he’s not going to fuck with something that works for him, especially since Chaz and Raf are coming back for it. But in the background of his head he’s always waiting for the other shoe to drop, for Bryce to walk into the room and quietly tell him he’s going — who the fuck knows where. Across the country, or down south, or — anywhere. </p><p>Greg goes back and forth with the Canucks. They ask for 5.5, even though Jared would have been content with the initial 4.5 offer, told him that, Greg exasperated with him on the other side of the phone. The Canucks agree to 5. He knows the two years combined are less than Bryce makes in a single year, but it’s — huge to him. They send him the papers, and Jared doesn’t know whether to sign them or not.</p><p>“Should I like — maybe I could decline?” Jared says. “See where you go and ask them to—”</p><p>“Jared,” Bryce says. “You like Vancouver.”</p><p>Jared really likes Vancouver. He likes being in the same division as Calgary and Edmonton, so he can see Julius, his family. He likes being near Elaine. He likes his coaching staff, his management, likes playing on a line with Gabe and Dmitry, even though Dmitry’s obnoxious off the ice, likes hanging out at Gabe and Stephen’s. He likes it. It doesn’t matter, though, he’d drop it in a second if he could end up on the same team as Bryce.</p><p>“You’re not a UFA anyway, you don’t decide where you go if you turn it down,” Bryce says. “Vancouver has your signing rights.”</p><p>“Still,” Jared says. “Foster’s like — he seems like a genuinely nice guy, maybe he’d—”</p><p>“He’s a GM, babe,” Bryce says. “He’s not going to just let you like, go because of love or whatever. It’s a business.”</p><p>Jared blows out a breath.</p><p>“You want this contract,” Bryce says.</p><p>Jared really does.</p><p>“Sign it,” Bryce says.</p><p>“You sure?” Jared says.</p><p>“Yeah,” Bryce says. “I’m sure.”</p><p>Jared signs everywhere he’s supposed to sign it, and that’s it. He’s a Canuck for two more years. Bryce has two more years on his contract, so — maybe in two years they’ll figure it out, manage to get to the same place together. It’s hard to be happy about that when two years sounds like, well, two years, when Bryce is already frayed close to snapping.</p><p>Okay, he’s a little happy about it. Selfishly, he knows, but he can’t help it.</p><p><i>Welcome back liney, congrats!</i> Gabe sends him within an hour of the signing hitting the press, and Jared grins at it.</p><p><i>Ugh more Jared.</i> Stephen sends, and Jared grins at that too. Stephen’s <i>delighted</i> to have him back.</p><p>They have a quiet celebratory dinner with his family. It’d be uncomplicated if Bryce wasn’t tied up in the middle of trade negotiations he remains tight-lipped about, if they knew where Bryce was going to be next year, but, well, they don’t, so it’s more reserved than it would otherwise be. They crack open a nice bottle of wine, eat good dad cooking, and Jared gets his hair ruffled by his parents like, a billion times, like being a millionaire means they get to treat him like a kid again.</p><p>“You were already a millionaire,” Erin says, her hand outstretched. Jared eyes it.</p><p>“What was your signing bonus, Jared?” Erin asks sweetly.</p><p>“Nothing,” Jared says. “Not a cent.”</p><p>“Jared,” Erin says, hand still outstretched. “The internet exists. It is literally public knowledge.”</p><p>It was a quarter of a million dollars of his contract up front and Jared isn’t going to give her <i>any</i> of it. He already offered his parents a cheque and was rebuked and then offered again, citing financial support being the reason he had a hockey career, and had it very grudgingly accepted. If Erin wants money she can ask them for some. Considering they’re paying for her tuition and housing that is not likely to go well, but that’s not Jared’s problem. </p><p>Bryce moves.</p><p>“Don’t you dare,” Jared says.</p><p>Bryce pauses.</p><p>“No,” Jared says.</p><p>Bryce gives him big eyes.</p><p>Erin also gives him big eyes.</p><p>“Mom!” Jared says. “Erin’s trying to emotionally manipulate Bryce into giving her money!”</p><p>And Bryce is trying to emotionally manipulate Jared into letting him with those big sad eyes, but Jared cannot be emotionally manipulated. He knows the game. He’s an elite player of the game.</p><p>“Erin Jade we taught you better than that,” mom calls back.</p><p>Erin skulks away.</p><p>“Did you give her money?” Jared asks on the drive home.</p><p>“No,” Bryce says, but shiftily.</p><p>“Did you?” Jared asks.</p><p>“We’re going shopping next weekend,” Bryce says weakly, like Erin isn’t going to use a shopping trip to spend Bryce’s money.</p><p>Jared sighs. “At least set a budget?” he tries.</p><p>Bryce makes a noncommittal sound. “She shops at cheap stores.”</p><p>She shops at perfectly normal stores if you aren’t Bryce Marcus, Even My Underwear is Designer, but this is a fight Jared is never going to win. Not money he earned, not his business how it’s spent. </p><p>The rest of Jared’s signing bonus is going straight into savings. Someone has to be responsible for their future, and that person is Jared. Well, it’s not like they don’t have the same financial advisor or that Bryce doesn’t save way more money by the simple virtue of making way more. They’re pretty set, honestly, despite Bryce’s penchant to buy everything his pretty eyes set upon. But every penny his parents didn’t spend on necessities — and hockey non-necessities — went into savings, and Jared is following their lead.</p><p>“Am I boring?” Jared says. </p><p>“You are the most exciting person in the world,” Bryce tells him, all earnestness, and takes his hand at the next red light.</p><p>Jared squeezes, then lets go. “Both hands on the wheel, babe,” he says.</p><p>“You can sometimes be a little boring,” Bryce says.</p><p>“Hey,” Jared says. </p><p>*</p><p>Jared is probably boring, because getting back into the training routine is extremely comforting. Raf and Chaz are both like, understanding about the whole tenuousness of Bryce’s limbo — he’s training right now, letting Summers handle it, but he’s always uneasy, like he’s walking on eggshells, waiting for something to give — and supportive without asking too many questions about it. They fall right back into the effortless competitiveness that drives the three of them during the offseason, a mostly friendly competition that ends in good natured squabbles Arvan either breaks up or uses to push them further. Grace and Ash have graduated university and are both considering the whole potentially moving to the States thing, so they’re all kind of in a limbo themselves, everyone a little unsettled outside of training, eager to ignore the unpleasantness of uncertainty with video games and chill nights out as the clock ticks out to Canada day and free-agent frenzy.</p><p>Free-agency comes Bryce is still a Flame, which means all the leverage is his now. Jared’s honestly surprised they didn’t find a taker yet, but it was a deep free agent pool, so maybe everyone was waiting to see who they could get on the open market without giving up assets before they were willing to pull the trigger on him. He’s emphatically not complaining. Bryce looks like there’s a weight off him, not gone, exactly, but lighter now that he has more control over where he’s going to end up.</p><p>“Who’re your three?” Jared asks that night, fingers running through Bryce’s hair as Bryce drowses beside him.</p><p>“I haven’t decided yet,” Bryce says. “Like, I’m going to put Vancouver on it, obviously, but it’s just going to be a flat out no from them.”</p><p>“I know,” Jared says.</p><p>“If they gave in they’d ask Vancouver for way too much in return and they’d say no,” Bryce says.</p><p>“I know,” Jared repeats.</p><p>Bryce blows out a breath. “I wanna go so bad,” he says. “I just—”</p><p>“I know,” Jared says, and pulls him in.</p><p>“Western teams, I guess,” Bryce says. “I have to talk to Summers first, he’s probably got more knowledge on like, what’s actually feasible from a trade standpoint. Maybe California? I’d get to play you as much as I do now, but the Flames wouldn’t be as against it as a rivalry team. And the Oakland to San Jose drive isn’t bad, we could double up on visits that way.”</p><p>“Golden Seals are getting good,” Jared says. “And the Sharks don’t have a legit top scorer, they’d offer a good return for you.”</p><p>“Yeah,” Bryce says. “Maybe them. I dunno. Kind of figuring out where I can stand being until I’m a UFA. But even then it’s like — who knows if Vancouver will bite then? I hate this stuff. I just want to like, play hockey and be with you and I can’t have both and I hate it.”</p><p>“Me too,” Jared says.</p><p>*</p><p>Summers flies in from New York, which definitely means talks are heating up, and Bryce comes back from a dinner meeting with him, kneeling in front of Jared at his spot on the couch, all clean pressed suit and perfect hair Jared wants to mess up.</p><p>“Who’d you pick for your three?” Jared asks.</p><p>“I trust you in absolutely everything,” Bryce says solemnly, which automatically puts Jared on guard.</p><p>“Except?” Jared says.</p><p>“Be patient with me during the negotiations?” Bryce says.</p><p>“Always,” Jared says. “But do I get to know—”</p><p>“Summers says if anyone knows the deets it might seriously bite us in the ass,” Bryce says. “Like, knowing in advance and stuff. Insider information or whatever.”</p><p>Jared could have sworn you don’t have to testify against your spouse, but maybe that doesn’t apply to the NHL. Or like, outside of court. Like, he talked through his contract with Bryce as negotiations went on, but maybe trades are different. Or maybe Summers operates differently. Or maybe —</p><p>“Are you about to do something really dumb?” Jared asks.</p><p>“Do you think Summers would okay something really dumb?” Bryce asks.</p><p>He’s deflecting, so not really dumb but potentially going to lead to backlash.</p><p>“Are you going to be booed the next time you play in the Saddledome?” Jared says.</p><p>Bryce smiles, and Jared doesn’t care if that means Bryce is playing further from him, that they may give up the apartment that’s felt like home since Jared was seventeen. He doesn’t care. Bryce smiled.</p><p>“I won’t ask,” Jared says, because he knows if he asks enough Bryce will crack, whether he wants to or not. So he’ll have to not ask.</p><p>“Thank you,” Bryce says.</p><p>“I’m going to be <i>really</i> curious, though,” Jared says. “So you better do things quick.”</p><p>“Fingers crossed,” Bryce says, crossing his fingers as he says it, quick superstition, and Jared, not superstitious at all, crosses his own.</p>
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